Foreign Branding and Its Effects on Product

Perceptions and Attitude

Introduction

Brand is a very challenging and complex yet so delicate and important part of present-day

business. It is challenging and complex because the markets are different like every elements or

factors of the markets are as diverse as the markets. Important because 'consumers' which is the

most significant element of the market wants to have trust worthiness in the shape of products or

services from the marketers and brand is communicating or serving exactly that point. To be

more precise "brand had a status of name or symbol that identify the unique source of product or

service to that which should drive the design of the total customer experience derived out of a

unique trust and emotional attachment."1 Therefore branding is a marketing strategy that involves

creating a differentiated name and image in order to establish a presence in the consumer's mind

and attract and keep customers. Now we can sense that the brand is a significant attribute of

modern business, and as a part of branding Foreign Branding is very important issue for every

elements of the market. Thus it is very important it obviously carry a great deal of weight to

make a brand a success story. As we know the world is becoming smaller everyday because of

technological advancement business and people are also becoming global everyday and foreign

branding is establishing more and more supremacy through this diverse global business and

people as in consumers. So to understand the subject matter more clearly and its impact we

should dissect the topic farther more in the body part of the report as follows.

1 Branding in Bangladesh: A Historical perspective by Ishtiaque Arif (page -46)

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Methodology

The paper has been completed through extensive achievable and understandable research paper

in our capability. We have been reading wide range of related literature in this particular subject

matter. We all agreed in a point that this type of delicate topic cannot be covered only through

the help of secondary data, thus it needs primary research data to draw a conclusion. However

because, our lack of experience on the extensive primary researched data collection and analysis

we have to conduct our paper through the secondary data we can excess from the internet and

related literature. We construct our arguments through series of related supporting topic and then

evaluate the main topic compare to them.

Brand

To go farther more with the topic we have to clarify some point first and one of them is the

fundamental of brand. Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the

goods of one producer from those of another. From our understanding brand is nothing but a

trust building tool for a marketer. "A brand is an identity with meaning. Meaning evoke with

favorable feeling or associations in the minds of the consumer. In the absence of brand we have

only a nameless entity or a mere tag of identification. A brand is projected through its name, the

style of writing, product design and the packaging it has. Everything is design to connect to

consumer's sense of color, smell, taste, and sound. People view the world through their

individual senses, but the brand targets on impacting all the senses at once. No distraction, no

fear, the true motto for a brand to expand."2 So we can tell brand is to communicating value to

the target market and in a sense it is a promise, it is all about mind shear, heart shear and spirit

shear.

To be more formal about the definition of the brand we have to take the AMA definition, which

states; "a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to

identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from

2 Branding in Bangladesh: A Historical perspective by Ishtiaque Arif (page -47)

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those of competition."3 Thus we can say anything that actually made some awareness, standing,

promise or trust in the market.

Brand Element : Name, logo, symbol, package design or other characteristics of a

product are components of brand and these different components of a brand that identify

and differentiate it are brand elements.

One might say why mentioning the brand element. It is because one of the element is the

fundamental issue, essential for our farther discussion which is on Foreign Branding.

Brand Name

According to Ries & Trout; "The brand name is a knife that cuts the mind to let the brand

message inside"

Brand name is a very important and first job after the product came in to existence. It is

fundamental because most of the time it capture the main theme of a product. Brand name can be

an extremely effective shorthand means of communication.4 Since sometimes name

communicate the product premise.

Selecting a brand name for a product is surely a piece of complex art if a single stroke lessened

or overdone the art's price will go down to zero. And as the paper will go forward we will know

that how foreign branding is related with the naming of the brand and the significance of the

subject matter.

Foreign Branding

As stated above, brand names are important in developing brand knowledge (brand awareness

and brand image). Selecting a proper brand name is vital for the success of new products.

Foreign branding is one way to build pleasing product associations. Thus many companies use

3 Strategic Brand Management, Chapter 1 (Brand & Brand Management) by Keller (page -30)4 Strategic Brand Management, Chapter 4 (choosing brand elements to build brand equity) by Keller (page -147)

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foreign branding in an expectation that the brand names would enlighten certain traits of their

products.

Foreign branding is the strategy of spelling or pronouncing a brand name in a foreign language

seems to be targeted primarily toward influencing the brand image dimension of brand equity.5

One of the best known examples in this context is the American ice cream brand Häagen Dasz

which suggests a Scandinavian origin6.

Foreign Branding is an advertising and marketing term describing the implied cachet or

superiority of products and services with foreign or foreign-sounding names.7

In non English-speaking countries like Bangladesh many brands use English names. In English

and other non English-speaking countries, many cosmetics and fashion brands use French or

Italian names. Also, Japanese, Scandinavian, and of other origin sounding names are used in both

English and non English-speaking countries to achieve specific effects.

Argument on Country Of Origin

The majority of studies that have investigated the country of origin effect indicate that COO does

indeed affect the way consumer perceived and evaluate product. This effect refers to the notion

that consumers often can ascribe meanings, characteristics, or even quality perceptions to

products, as a result in part of where these products are from. Though not unequivocal there is

considerable theoretical evidence and empirical findings suggesting that country of origin effects

are relevant to consumers across cultures, and do play a salient role in consumer evaluations and

choice heuristics through variety of cognitive processes. This is also related to the concept of a

country as brand as suggested by the nation and place branding literature. Therefore, marketers

use of a foreign language and or a foreign pronunciation per se ought to be seen as mechanisms

whereby the country of origin effect is brought about, thus affecting how consumers will

perceive, evaluate, and/or respond to a particular brand. While a worthwhile topic in and of

5 Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. XXXI (May 1994), (page - 263) by FRANCE LECLERC. BERND H. SCHMITT. and LAURETTE DUBE6 Leclerc et al., 19947 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_branding

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itself, COO is presented here as supporting conceptual argument regarding the relevance of

foreign branding.8

Product to be subjected for foreign branding

What kind of product would be branded in the foreign branding that is discussed bellow.

Hedonic goods are consumed for luxury purposes, which are desirable objects that allow the

consumer to feel luxury from buying the product.

Utilitarian goods, which are purchased for their practical uses and are based on the consumer's

needs.

Broadly speaking, hedonic goods provide more experiential consumption, fun, pleasure, and

excitement (designer clothes, sports cars, luxury watches, etc.), whereas utilitarian goods are

primarily instrumental and functional (microwaves, minivans, personal computers, etc.)9

Consumer choices are driven by utilitarian and hedonic considerations. Consumers choosing

among new automobiles, for example, may care about utilitarian features (e.g., gas mileage) as

well as about hedonic attributes (e.g., sporty design). Research sugge.sts that these different

considerations map onto independent components of product evaluations and attitudes and

enable people to distinguish between goods according to their relative hedonic or utilitarian

nature. 10

Foreign Branding in Bangladesh

8 Foreign Branding: Examining the Relationship between Language and International Brand Evaluations by Sergio Olavarrieta Soto, Enrique Manzur Mobarec & Roberto Friedmann, 2010 (page-12)9 Consumer Choice Between Hedonic and Utilitarian Goods (2000) by RAVI DHAR and KLAUS WERTENBROCH (page-60)10 Consumer Choice Between Hedonic and Utilitarian Goods (2000) by RAVI DHAR and KLAUS WERTENBROCH (page-60)

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Bangladesh is a small country but with a huge market for potentially all of the consumer product,

and very often the people of the country demonstrate a view towards brand which is they are not

as much as brand concern or brand loyal people as other countries in the world. Although Bangla

is the native language of the country, many of the words in Bangla came from different language.

Burmese, Mandarin, Arabic, Farsi and especially Sanskrit, Urdu, English, have contributed lots

of words in Bangla because of their colonial ruling. Because of globalization the people of

Bangladesh are now exposed by many foreign language and being international language English

has the greatest grip in the mind of consumers of Bangladesh. Therefore foreign branding has

become a huge part of branding strategy in Bangladesh. A huge number of brands of Bangladesh

carry foreign names, this process was not that prominent in the past but in the resent past after

the expansion of internet and availability of satellite networks this became a phenomenon in the

country. And we think foreign named brand is much superior in number against the local named

brand.

Some prominent brands in Bangladesh which followed foreign branding;

Industry Brand CommentMineral water MUM An English word; meaning

mother

Spa English; a mineral spring

considered to have health-

giving properties

Fresh An English word; meaning

natural, unprocessed

Fiji drink MOJO English urban slang; meaning

magic charm

Clemon English sounded word

associated with lemon

RC English

Dairy Milk vita English words

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Danish People of Denmark

Fresh English

Ice cream Polar English; freezing, icy

Igloo English; dome-shaped Eskimo

house

Bellissimo Italian; very beautiful

Biscuit Energy plus English, more strength

Fit English; be of the right shape

and size for

Soap Sandalina English sounded; came from

sandalwood

Cosco Foreign sounded

Meril Slovenian; Standard

Fashion Yellow English, color

Artisti Italian; artist

Cats eye English

Foot ware Apex English;  peak, top, extremity

Bay English; broad inlet of the sea

where the land curves inward

Fortuna Greek; goddess of fortune

Cell phone Walton English sounded name

Symphony English; an elaborate musical

composition for full orchestra

Health care Lab aid English; laboratory & help

Square English; shape

United English; together

Skin care Tibet Country northern side of the

Himalayas

Meril Slovenian; Standard

Pharmaceutical Square English; shape

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Beximco English sounded

Cement Crown English; a circular ornamental

headdress worn by a monarch

as a symbol of authority

Confidence English; trust

Seven ring English

Brick / Tile National English; domestic

Fu-wang Chinese

Great wall English

Plastic product RFL English

National polymer English

Real state Concord English; agreement or

harmony

Navana English; beautiful

Asset English; valuables

News paper / portal Daily Star English

New age English

Ittefaq, Inkelab Hindi

Television Walton English sounded

Minister English

Television Network Channel I , Channel 9 English

G- TV, E- TV Full form of G & E is Bangla

but they focus the English

alphabet G & E.

Independent English

Radio station Radio Today Typically English

ABC Radio English

Peoples Radio English

Phone operator Tele Talk English

Rangs Tel. English sounded

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Product Perception

A brand can convey up to six level of meaning; attributes, benefits, values, culture, personality

and user.11 first two levels are related to product performance, while the next three are related to

the product perceptions, or non product related values.12

The worth that a product or service has in the mind of the consumer is product perception. The

consumer's perception of a good or service affects the price that he or she is willing to pay for it.

For the most part, consumers are unaware of the true cost of production for the products they

buy. Instead, they simply have an internal feeling for how much certain products are worth to

them. Thus, in order to obtain a higher price for their products, producers may pursue marketing

strategies and one of the strategy is foreign branding. In simpler words what consumer think of a

product is product perception for that consumer. One product can be perceived differently by

different people because no person is completely similar and therefore the evaluation pattern is

also different to person to person. To define its importance Al Ries & Jack Trout said, "You

concentrate on the perceptions of the prospect, not the reality of the product."

Brand Attitude

Opinion of consumers toward a product determined through market research. The brand attitude

will tell what people think about a product or service, whether the product answers a consumer

need or not, and just how much the product is wanted by the consumer.

Dr. Lars Perner (2010) defines consumer attitude simply as a composite of a consumer's beliefs,

feelings, and behavioral intentions toward some object within the context of marketing. A

consumer can hold negative or positive beliefs or feelings toward a product or service.

11 Kapferer (2004), the new strategic brand management: creating and sustaining brand equity long term 12 Park & Srinivasan (1994), a survey based method for measuring & understanding brand & equity and its extendibility. (page271-288)

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Meaning the attitude of potential consumers toward a product refers to what the consumers

believe the product does, how well it does it, and how likely they are to find it useful.

Knowledge of a product's brand association is developed through market research such as asking

focus groups. Knowledge of brand attitude is very helpful in planning an advertising campaign.

Effects on perception and Attitude

Hard to understand

Traditional textbooks would ideally advice against using brand names that are difficult to

pronounce, as many foreign brand names can be because this could negatively affect the

consumers ease of decoding such names.

Example; Haagen-Dazs is the American ice cream brand which suggests a Scandinavian origin.

Another example is the Bellissimo a Bangladeshi ice cream brand with Italian origin. But any

people doesn't already knew about these brands would find it hard to understand, what the brands

name are suggesting about the product.

Difficult to retain and recall

Foreign or foreign sounded brand name could be difficult to remind all the time and recall

instantly at any time. Because the sound of the name is not so popular in the locality but it might

took a different path in the foreign market.

Example; if the Telenor company branded their service as Gramin phone in Norway it might not

work out in that country because the Bangla word Gramin would be too difficult for them to

retain and recall but in Bangladesh it grew a immense sucess because the consumers of the

service in the locality could anticipate the product attribute through the name.

Capturing attention : Foreign branding also promotes a first impression of surprise, and thus assist consumers by

capturing attention, helping with name retention, recall, and eventually helping to fixate

particular brand associations to consumers’ knowledge structures.

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Example; Indian motor bike brands like Hero, Pulsar being a foreign branding in the context of

India gives an instant zing into the perception of consumer which can easily capture the attention

of a consumer and will stay quite a long period of time.

Cultural stereotypes:

Foreign branding could fuel the cultural stereotypes because foreign words or brands pronounced

in a particular foreign language could indicate towards any particular country. sometimes

consumers have some stereotype about some product perception related with some particular

country and foreign branding will exploit those scopes.

For argument's sake Italy is very much renowned for fashion industry and sometimes consumers

have some bias point of view regarding fashion industry and Italy and it could turn into

stereotype. Stereotyping would be thinking any brand associating with Italian sounded word

would be as good as the original Italian product and most of the time consumers felt for it.

Example:

Giorgio di St. Angelo designer wear is not the latest fashion from Milan but the product of U.S.

designer Martin Price.13

Artisti Collection is not a fashion house from Italy rather it is a Bangladeshi brand which follows

foreign branding strategy.

In addition, we can further speculate that foreign language phonetics help trigger particular and

different associations in consumer minds. For example, in Spanish and in English, “ABSOLUT”,

the vodka brand name, could be people can translate or easily interpret as “ABSOLUTO” in

Spanish or ABSOLUTE in English. In translating it, however, the brand name loses an important

part of its “meaning”, as conveyed by the word’s phonetics and sound.14 Yes, we could say that it

probably retains the semantic meaning of “totality”, or “whole”, but it certainly looses the

“Russian character” and all associations stemming from that. This relates directly then to the

13 Foreign Branding and Its Effects on Product Perceptions and Attitudes (1994) by FRANCE LECLERC. BERND H. SCHMITT. and LAURETTE DUBE (page- 262)14 Pan, Y. & Schmitt, B. (1996). Language and brand attitudes: Impact of script and sound matching in Chinese and English. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 5(3), 263-277.

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lexicographic meaning of both words, “ABSOLUT” and “ABSOLUTO”; and specifically to the

phonetics, that is, how they sound.15

Favorable Country of Origin

When consumer’s view on the name of the brand's country of origin are favorable, they will

more likely create favorable consumer attitude of a product based on factors such as brand name

rather than relying on their perceptions of product quality. In simple words if the foreign name of

the brand is affiliated with a country which reflect positive perception in the mind of consumer

they will much more driven towards those brand.

Example; In Bangladesh women are very much found of Indian movies and serials. In every

festive season local manufacturers produce similar kinds of clothing they ware in those TV

programs besides importing and branded the product with a name of darling characters from the

Programs.

Unfavorable Country of Origin

If the Country of origin image is unfavorable, marketers experience formidable barriers when

they attempt to position their products or services in the market.

Example; In Bangladesh if any product foreign branded with a Hebrew language or Israeli origin

the perception and the attitude of the product in the mind of consumer will be devastating.

Predictors of product benefits

Needs of the type of product and taking that as a base for foreign branding can effect a lot on

product perception and attitude. The benefit from the product can be judge from the name of the

brand as we discussed before.

15 Foreign Branding: Examining the Relationship between Language and International Brand Evaluations by Sergio Olavarrieta Soto, Enrique Manzur Mobarec & Roberto Friedmann, 2010 (page-12)

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Most of the time French, Italian, Spanish origin names refers to hedonic product which are

luxurious in nature and Scandinavian and Japanese origin name refers to Utilitarian product

which are primarily instrumental and functional in nature.

Trustworthiness

As the definition of brand suggest brand as a trust building tools, the effect of foreign branding in

product perception and attitude is trustworthiness. The issue of trust can be introduced or

established in the mind of consumers through foreign branding.

Example; Bangladeshi mineral water brand Fresh has an English origin in its branding which

affiliate with the hygiene factor which is communicating trust towards the consumers.

Another Bangladeshi brand Polar has also an English origin which means arctic area or cold, and

it relating the product ice cream and communicate the trustworthiness through the name.

Communicate brand identity

When consumers know the COO, this knowledge affects their perceptions of both generic

product categories but also of specific brands.16Through foreign sounded name the marketer

might communicate what the brand is all about and where they wanted to go.

Communicate Quality

Foreign branding has another effect on communicating quality of the product with the

consumers. Like for the example, Fu-Wang Ceramic is a Bangladeshi brand which has a Chinese

name of origin, which communicate the tiles are as good as Chinese tiles as we know China is a

16 Bilkey, W. J., & Nes, E. (1982). Country-of-origin effects on product evaluations. Journal of International Business Studies (pre-1986), 13(1), (page 89)

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quality tile producing country and a huge percentage of tiles in Bangladesh is imported from

China.

Sense of Pricing

As an associate of brand pricing is an essential element of product attitude. foreign branding

might give a sense of the price of the product to the consumers. To give an example we might

say the name of an Bangladeshi brand with an English origin Premium sweets, the name

Premium suggest that it is a finest sweet brand in the country so it might cost little higher than

other brands. Khajana mithai is another similar kind of example which will cost higher than the

average market is originated from Hindi.

Design

Being an associate of product attitude design of the product is a very important factor of

branding. Perception of the design of the product in the mind of consumer can determine the

success or failure of a brand. Foreign sounded name might have a significant effect in this

subject matter.

To give an example we might say the name of an Bangladeshi brand with an English origin Fit

Elegance, the name suggest that it is a premium tailoring brand whose main focus is on the looks

or design of the product.

Conclusion

In the globalized economy, Foreign Branding is no longer a single country phenomenon.

Multinational firms design a wide variety of products and brands, often relying on multi firm

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cooperation to do so. Products may be designed in one country, its components manufactured in

a second country, be assembled in a third country, and have their brand associated with yet

another country. All this makes it difficult for consumers to figure out the specific country with

which the product or brand may be associated. As a consequence, the brand name and country of

origin of the brand undergo shifts in terms of their definitions and consumer perception and

attitude. We tried to take most of the related arguments into our consideration to make the paper

as legitimate as possible.

Limitations

1. Time constraints

2. Unable to build primary sources

3. Lack of secondary information

4. Reliability of the secondary data

5. Lack of funds

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